*EPF507 11/08/2002
U.S. May Go After Terrorists in "Ungoverned Area," Official Says
(Defense Department report, November 8: Terrorism, Iraq, Afghanistan) (300)

A Defense Department official says there may be circumstances where U.S. military forces may go into an "ungoverned area" in pursuit of terrorists.

Victoria Clarke, Defense Department spokeswoman and assistant secretary for public affairs, was asked at a Pentagon briefing November 8 whether the United States was prepared to take military action against suspected al Qaeda forces in countries without the prior consent of the governments involved. Clarke said, in part, "we make every -- every effort to work with countries, most of whom are very eager to get rid of the al Qaeda and the Taliban, for instance, in Afghanistan, because the secretary has said before there may be -- without speculating where -- there may be circumstances where we go into an ungoverned area in pursuit of al Qaeda.

"And I'll just leave it at that," she said.

On the subject of Iraq, Rear Admiral David Gove, deputy director of global operations on the Joint Staff, said at the same briefing that since "September 18, when Saddam Hussein sent a letter to the U.N. offering to allow weapons inspectors back into Iraq, the Iraqis have fired at ONW [Operation Northern Watch] aircraft 52 times, and OSW [Operation Southern Watch] aircraft 107 times. In the past week alone, the Iraqi air defense system has fired on our OSW aircraft seven times, and ONW aircraft three times."

"Those no-fly zones were created by the United Nations to protect the Iraqi people and neighboring countries from being attacked. To attack the coalition aircraft enforcing these no-fly zones is like attacking a policeman who is patrolling a neighborhood," Clarke said.

Also during the briefing, Clarke said in response to a question about the effort to create a national Afghan army that over 900 Afghans have now graduated from army basic training, while another 900 are currently in training. Additionally, 400 Afghans are prepared to begin army training, she said.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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